Car Hire - Insurance

alienuk

Hi there - Hopefully this is the right forum to post this question.
I am hiring car through Enterprise for 2 days and I found that their insurance cover is expensive for a day.
Full coverage costs close to 20£ / day which i think is very high.

Speaking to a friend he told me that it is possible to buy a cover with other service provider.

Could someone please share your experiences and advice if you manage to cover any incidents?

Apodemus

I don't know the answer but hope someone comes along who does! I currently have a car from enterprise and it was going to cost me £11 per day to reduce the excess from £1000 down to £250.

When I borrow a car from the garage, if mine is in for service, I add this to my own insurance for a nominal sum. I'm not sure if the same is possible for a hired car?

alienuk

Thanks - I am told that it is possible to take insurance for a hired car - for the number of days that it is hired and the per day insurance amount is going to be considerably less...

glider3560

I used insurance4carhire.com on a recent van hire. You are not buying insurance against accidents, you are buying insurance against your excess at the hire company. You must have funds available to be able to pay the full excess on return of the vehicle.

In my case, I damaged the van and Enterprise charged me £1150. Put the claim into Insurance 4 Car Hire on the same day (by email) and received the money back within three weeks.

Unsurprisingly, the body shop used by Enterprise charged considerably more than £1150 to have the repair done, even though it was quite superficial damage (IMO).

losgiganteskid

Yes - insurance4carhire.com is as good as anyone. Had 5 days cover for £15 (less a small amount tracked through Quidco) not only covers up to £6500 of car hire excess but covers other aspects not covered even when you take the car hire companies extension ie glass, tyres and wheels under car damage etc

firely2327

I've cancelled it now as I don't hire anymore, but I had icarhireinsurance.com cover for a year. It was ridiculously inexpensive at £15-20 if memory serves. As glider said, it covers the excess, not the insurance itself. Excess on hire vehicles is typically around the £1000, and you'll find that much of the 'insurance' that Enterprise etc try and flog you is actually mainly made up of cover of the excess. Why pay the hire company each time when for the whole year you'll get cover for what you'd pay the hire company on a 1-2day hire?

alienuk

I did a quick check on both the websites - icarinsurance and insurance4hire... Both of them have their annual policy around 35 - 40£ which is really good.
If i goahead and take one of their policy, does it mean that I can safely not select the so called ,
Excess Protection and Roadside Protection as sold by Enterprise when i try to reserve a car online?
Just for more information, I'm putting the words mentioned on these covers as below from their website.

Excess Protection£ 11.99 / day--DETAILS

In the event of damage and or theft, an excess is applicable which varies depending on vehicle type and location. Excess Protection will cover up to 900.00 GBP of any damage, subject to terms and conditions of the rental agreement. The customer can reduce or eliminate possible financial exposure caused by loss or damage to the rental vehicle. The following excess amounts apply, all cars 1000.00 GBP, MINI MPVs, MPVs 1150.00 GBP, commercial vehicles 1150.00 GBP, commercial vehicles in Northern Ireland 1400 GBP, premiums and 4x4s 1400.00 GBP. Excess protection is an optional coverage that allows the renter to reduce the excess responsibility by 900 GBP.The price of Excess protection varies by vehicle size and the prices are inclusive of VAT – premium location fee applies to airports – all standard vehicles 11.99 GBP per day, MPVs, Premiums, Large 4x4s and Small Commercial Vans – 14.99 GBP per day, all other Commercial Vans – 19.99 GBP per day.


Roadside Protection£ 4.99 / day--DETAILS
ADD
Enterprise offers roadside assistance protection – Rap. Rap allows enterprise customers to waive all financial responsibility for the following - tire and glass repair or replacement costs, except when part of a larger repair, replacement keys costs, and all recovery and call out charges imposed by our chosen roadside assistance providers as result of a fault caused by renter error. Rap does not exempt you from these charges if there is any breach of our rental agreement. The price of rap is 4.99 GBP per day.

lisyloo

I just did a very brief check, but it looks like you are buying excess cover and NOT roadside protection.